A Salamander's Secret
by Fairy Tail Pyromaniac
Summary: Zeref's younger brother is found and split into two fraternal twins, Natsu and Phillatsu. This story follows the life and adventures of the less known twin, Phillatsu, as she struggles to bring the seven original dragon slayers back together. Pairings include Natsu/Lucy, Gajeel/Levy, Rogue/Yukino, Sting/Phillatsu.
1. Chaos

Ashes. Ashes and smoke. Ashes and smoke and a child's voice.

Overhead screeched the demon-like figure of Acnologia, the Dragon King.

A boy in his teens walked silently through the ruins of burnt buildings wrecked streets. There were occasional screams and screeches as the death toll rose. The aura of magic from the now charred town of wizards was sinking lower and lower as the fatality flew skyward. The fatality level stopped climbing. There was no one more to die, well, except the emotionless teen and the small singing child still clinging to his mother's dead body. Tears stained his face, and he willed his lifeless mother to wake up and come back home with him. He was singing the lullaby that his mother always used to sing him to sleep.

The unemotional teen stumbled upon the last boy alive. This face was familiar to him. It was his younger brother. Zeref stared at the singing young boy, Zensu. Zeref sighed. Perhaps he had gone too far. Another sigh passed through his lips as the looked down at his dead mother with the small boy singing at his feet.

 _Flashback_

There had been sunshine in the room where the argument had happened. Zeref hated sunlight with a passion. It was too cheery for the real world. Too cheery for all except his little brother. Zensu loved smiling. He smiled all day every day. Even when he cried, his lips were pinned up high on cheeks creating adorable dimples. He was only four years old, yet he had the magic power of one of the ten wizard saints. But there was no time to think about his brother.

His mother had insulted his own magic power, and his father had told him that turning 16 doesn't make you have super strength. Zeref hadn't even implied the last part. Being a 16 year old with hormones, he had gotten defensive. His father beat him to the pulp and sent him to his room. Zeref had stayed there for the last two days. He didn't drink or eat anything. He hadn't shared a word with anyone except his little brother through the door. Zensu often would just talk and Zeref would listen. Sometimes Zensu asked him questions and begged until he answered them. Once he pleaded for Zeref to come out for so long that Zeref had to send a magic beam out of the door to zap the small child before he went away.

His mother often called Zensu downstairs to go out with her while his father prepared for the celebration. He would be turning four, and since he was finally big enough to cut the cake, it would definently be a birthday to remember.

Zeref then realized that the parents that had beat him senseless were the ones setting up for this cheerful event as if it had never happened. That sent him over the edge. His eyes flashed red. He let out a screeching call and with it released a powerful bolt of magic that exploded the house on contact. And with it, his father. The call summoned Acnologia, the Dragon King and master of chaos. Zeref ordered destruction from the huge black figure. The dragon quickly did as told, even he was afraid of Zeref. The dragon knew what Zeref could do, what his magic power could do. Chaos in the city. The air began to smell of death.

 _End Flashback_

Zeref cleared his throat. The boy turned around. His tear streaked face was covered in dirt and stained with blood.

He wasn't smiling.

"Hey, do you remember me?" Zeref asked the boy in as sweet a voice as he could manage at the moment.

"Zeree!" The little boy shrieked and ran over to hug his older brother.

Zensu was still rather short, being only four years old, compared to Zeref. The boy ended up hugging Zeref's waist.

 _Thank God he doesn't know that all this was my fault,_ Zeref thought.

Finding someone alive that he knew seemed to cheer the small boy up to no end. A tiny smile surfaced on his face.

"What's that?" Asked the now peppy little boy.

Zeref was full on surprised. The boy had grabbed his hand and was holding it tightly. When he heard the question, his eyes followed the small pointing figure up to the giant shadow beast figure of Acnologia.

"That," Zeref replied "that is a mighty dragon."

"A dragon?!" The little boy exclaimed in wonder.

"Yeah!" Zeref said with enthusiasm.

He had just thought of a great idea to take the boy's mind off of the mess that he had made.

"And that dragon might just teach you some cool moves if you ask him nicely."

The little boy's eyes widened at the thought of learning to be like a dragon. Zeref used chaos dragon magic as well as some other lost magic arts that he had picked up. The small child had always looked up to his brother and at the thought of being like him, he nodded his little head so furiously that Zeref thought it might fall off.

"Mister Dragon, sir," Zensu said "will you teach me how to use your type of magic?"

At the lack of response, the boy's head dropped. He was disappointed and sad. The dragon had given him no response.

Zeref looked at his brother's depression.

"Well, you heard him, Acnologia!" Zeroed shouted at the dragon.

With that the dragon swooped down and scooped up both of the boys on the ground. The little boy's face was almost shining with delight as they swooped out of the burning town and into the country. Zeref almost smiled, but he caught himself just in time.


	2. Arrival

As the two boys flew over the green earth, Zeref pointed out small details of the vast landscape.

"I always went to that cave when I was around your age," Zeref told the younger boy "I would run away and climb up the side of the mountain. That's where I met Acnologia!"

The younger boy stared at him, amazed. Then he reached down and patted Acnologia on the back. He ran his hands over the dragons sharp but smooth shiny black scales. Though it was the first time he had heard a dragon speak, he still understood.

"But one day, when your brother was climbing the mountain to meet me, a rock came crashing down towards him and he was knocked down," Acnologia shivered remembering the memory "Luckily he made it through with only a few broken bones."

"Just a few broken bones?" Zeref countered "I was in a coma for at least a week!"

"Your parents always kept a close eye on him after that. He's never gone back to that cave until now," the strong dragon told Zensu, who had been surprisingly quiet throughout the ride.

Zensu thought it was strange being so high up, but the wind felt nice and the view was pretty. By now the sun had set and the moon was high in the sky. They had circled the whole landscape before they landed at the cave. Though the whole day had been amazing, Zensu was starving. Zeref knew that he was because he kept walking in circles like he was trying to forget about it. Zeref was surprised when his own stomach grumbled, but then he remembered that he hadn't eaten in three days.

Zeref knew that Acnologia had a strong liking for roasted fish and walked towards the back of the humongous cavern where, sure enough, piles ceiling high of roasted fish covered the walls. Zeref picked up a couple large fish and brought them back for him and his younger brother to eat. Zeref handed his brother the fish. Zensu munched away at it while he sat on the ground, cross-legged.

"Ha!" Zeref exclaimed "You look like a little happy cat!"

"A happy cat?" Zensu repeated through a mouthful of fish.

"Yes," Acnologia chimed in "a cat with a fish is a joyous cat at that."

"A joyous cat?" Zensu repeated again.

Zeref's eyes took in every inch of the filthy little boy who had finished the fish he had been munching on previously.

"Come on, my little cat," Zeref said, picking up Zensu "tell me are you the kind of cat that likes water?"

"Yes! I like water," Zensu said importantly "but only if it's warm."

"Good! I have just the place."

Zeref walked up a small trail to a heated spring on the mountain. Gently setting his brother down, he started to look for soft pond plants that he could use to fashion some sort of sponge-like brush. After he had made his "sponge", Zeref undressed his little brother and placed him in the water. Steam rose from the spring and floated into the sky. Zeref used his makeshift brush to scrub away the grime and blood that caked the boy's body. Zeref was as gentle as the muck allowed. He sometimes had to scrub so hard the skin turned pink underneath. Zeref gave the boy a warning before gently dunking his head under the warm water to wet his hair and face. He then washed out the brush and used it to, once more, wipe the blood and grime away from the boy's rosy face. Zensu giggled frequently because he was quite ticklish. Once he had successfully cleaned the younger boy's face, Zeref moved to his muddy hair. He dunked the boy again and told him to float on the water while Zeref scrubbed through his mucky hair. He combed through the black locks with an old brush that he had found in his pocket. Finally finished, Zeref pulled Zensu out of the water and wrapped him in the towel-like cloak that Zeref had left behind at least 12 years ago. Picking up the small child, the teen started to walk back to the large cavern where the huge dragon waited.


	3. I Want to be Like You

"Wake up, little cat," Zeref said, gently shaking Zensu awake.

It was time for morning training. Though it was 6:00 am, the trio that lived in the cave were wide awake and helping themselves to the dried fruit that they collected on the day of the week that they didn't have training scheduled. This week they had day training scheduled. They woke up at 6, ate breakfast, ran a mile to warm up, then started , learning/practicing the skill that they were working on for the week. Mostly Acnologia trained the little boy with Zeref there for help and support, but occasionally Zeref would take a week to strengthen and expand magic power. After they had worked on the skill for as much time as they needed, they ran a mile to cool down and bathed. They never ate lunch; it had been forgotten the day training started. After the bath, they ate dinner and then went to sleep early to refresh their power and their bodies.

Dragonslayer Magic is hard to grasp but with a dragon so powerful, Zeref was amazed that Zensu could even use the magic and still stand afterward. Zensu had mastered the dark fist of a chaos dragon, the roar of a chaos dragon, the black flame of a chaos dragon, the chaos dragon claw, the chaos dragon wing attack, the chaos dragon crushing fang of abyss, and the darkness cloak of a chaos dragon. Zeref had worked with Zensu for weeks making sure he had the power to weaken or strengthen the attacks on his own.

Today they were working on more advanced moves. The moves that Zensu had mastered already were strong enough to bring down an entire city or kill a person in one strike. That was why it was so important that Zensu was able to lower the potency of the attack. The advanced moves that Zeref and Acnologia taught him were even more powerful. Zensu had already learned advanced tactics like Beast Abyss Globe. This magic attack was a finisher only to be used if someone was supposed to be killed. It surrounded a couple people and shut down all of their internal organs. If you got surrounded by this magic, there was a 99% chance you would die. He had also mastered a skill called The Age of Black and White. This turned every thing but the targeted opponent into a grayscale landscape. This canceled all of the opponents magic and weakened their bodies by half. The only spell that the caster could use inside of this spell was another advanced spell called Shadow Demon. This made the opponents shadows attack them. Inside the Grayscale Landscape, shadows could suck the magic power out of the opponent and transfer it to the caster. In a normal landscape, Shadow Demon worked best the early and late hours of the day when shadows are the longest.

The skill that Zensu was trying to master today was one known as Flash Chaos. This spell was supposed to boost the caster's physical speed as well as the caster's spell speed and potency.

Zensu had mastered the activation part of the spell as well as the part of the spell that boosted physical speed, bit for some odd reason, the spells that he cast, well under the effect of Flash Chaos, were delayed and weak. Zeref himself couldn't grasp why the spell wasn't working. When Acnologia had taught him the magic, he had gotten it right off. Zensu's face was sopping wet with sweat as he tried over and over. Every time was the same though.

"Hey, Zensu, maybe you should take a break and have some water. You've been trying to activate this spell properly for six hours now!" Zeref told the frustrated little boy.

"No, I don't want to! How am I supposed to be like you if I can't even properly activate this spell?" Zensu said, fuming.

"Hmmm," Acnologia said "Oh, of course. This is what you forgot about from my training."

With that, the dragon scooped up the little boy and flew up high in the sky.

"Okay," the dragon told the boy "I'm going to drop you, but right before you hit the ground activate Flash Chaos and then any spell. The fear should get the right spell out of you. After all it worked for Zeref!"

"Okay, I'm ready!" The little boy said to the dragon.

And with that the dragon dropped him.

"AHHHHHH!" Zensu screamed as he plummeted towards the ground.

"AHHHHHH!" Zeref screamed as he watched the boy fall.

"AHHHHHH!" Acnologia screamed as he thought of what his boss would do to him if the boy died.

The boy was nearing the ground now.

 _"OK, it's time!"_ the little boy thought as he activated flash chaos and took off at lightning speed.

He simultaneously activated the roar of a chaos dragon. The power blast of dark wind ripped through the air at the speed of sound.

And it was heading...

Right...

Toward...

Zeref!

"Oh, Shit!"Zeref cursed under his breath.

He never let his brother hear him curse, not wanting to be a bad example.

 _"Well, I can't die today, can I?" Zeref thought._

"I call upon the souls eaten by the darkness! Second Origin! Predatory Death!"

Zeref blocked the attack with the spell that he had been keeping a secret all this time. This had been the spell that blew up his house and killed his family.

Predatory Death was no longer a secret!


	4. Shackles

Inside a dark cave on the side of a mountain, a boy slept... alone.

Zeref was glad that this was his day off. It had been three years since the demolition of his town and the murder of his parents. Zensu had taken it rather well, even though Zeref had never told him the full truth. At the moment, the teen was bathing and relaxing in the early hours of the morning while his brother slept. He propped his elbows up on the sides of the hot spring and closed his eyes. He unintentionally fell into a light sleep.

* * *

The older boy felt huge beams of air being shot at him. These could only be made by dragon wings. The boy didn't open his eyes though. Acnologia had gone fishing earlier that day and was probably retuning home with a big haul.

"Welcome back, Acnologia," Zeref mumbled, half asleep, as he reclined in the hot spring.

He fell back into his peaceful slumber.

* * *

"ZEREF!" Acnologia screeched.

The sun was low in the sky and Zeref was wrinkled like a prune.

"Wha whooo'sss thfere?" Zeref asked, half asleep.

"ZEREF, QUICK GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THE HOT SPRING!"

"Hey, calm down, Mister Dragon! I'm the one in charge of you."

"ZEREF, GET SERIOUS! HE'S GONE! ZENSU'S GONE!"

Zeref's eyes snapped open. Trying to stay calm, he pulled himself out of the water and wrapped himself in his white tunic.

 _"Zensu just wandered off,"_ Zeref tried to calm himself _"He's close by, we'll find him fast and scold him for scaring us."_

Zeref walked calmly up the path to the cave. He stood at the entrance. The bedding that his brother had been in was charred, and the air smelled of smoke and ash.

"Hey, Acnologia?" Zeref asked in a shaky voice "When did you get home?"

"Just now. Why?"

"Oh my God!" Zeref said, his eyes were now bigger that dinner plates "It was a dragon, a dragon took him away."

"Hey Zeref, are you feeling ok?" Acnologia asked, worriedly.

Zeref's mood decided things like Acnologia's health and well-being. Zensu was, honestly, the only thing that had kept Zeref happy all these years, that simple, smiling little boy had kept one of the most powerful wizards on the planet calm and happy for three years. But now the boy was gone. The boy had been taken away, and he took his happiness with him. Acnologia had a bad feeling that three years worth of contained anger was going to rush out and be directed at their main target... him!

"For three years, I kept that little boy safe. He was the only thing that actually mattered to me. And now, he's gone. And do you know why he's gone? Huh? Do you? Mister Acnologia," Zeref paused to let it sink in before attacking again. "He's gone because you neglected your duties. I told you I was taking the day off and that you were on duty. But, no, instead of standing watch, you decide to go FISHING 500 MILES FROM THE BOY THAT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WATCH!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen, it was an accident, I really am sorry!"

" _You're sorry, You're sorry!"_ Zeref's eyes were glowing red and there was a black aura coming off of him. "Well listen here, and listen well, you useless hulking mass, 'sorry' ain't gonna bring my brother back. So I'm giving you three days, one for every year that my brother was here, to find him. And if you fail, you will be bound by magic to the cave that held the boy that you failed to protect! Do you understand, you sniveling dragon scum!"

Acnologia nodded fiercely and was about to take off when Zeref cast "Black Shackle" on him. This spell would pull Acnologia back to the cave and keep him there if the boy wasn't found in three days. It would stay with Acnologia forever unless Zeref took it off.

"So," Zeref said, his eyes glowing red "This is the final round, my friend. Find him or rot alone in a cave where no one will hear you shriek or cry out. Now, get out of my sight, Disdainful Mistake!"

Acnologia didn't wait a single second more. Up he flew, trying to get a scent of the boy, but this valley was a dragon breeding ground and there were so many different scents in the air, Acnologia couldn't even find his own. This wasn't going to work, at this rate he might as well walk right into the cave and lay there until the spell took effect.

All of a sudden his ears perked up and his nose started to shuffle. He had caught a whiff of the smell of cinders. The same ones from the cave! Zeref was right, this was the final round, but it wasn't one he was going to lose.

He took off, following the scent of fire. Acnologia wasn't exactly what you would call a fast flyer. He had a hulking body and wings that he wished would get just a little bigger. Though he moved as fast as he could, He could sense the scent trail getting weaker. He couldn't sleep. If he did, he would wake up and the trail would be gone. And so he endured the first sleepless night. Day one was over.

* * *

The sun rose. Acnologia could see and feel Shadow Shackles around his limbs and neck (he just couldn't see the one on his neck). The scent was still lingering in the sky. Acnologia kept going. He was parched. The air here was horrifically hot. He found a lake and drained it of its contents, yes, the fish as well. Refreshed, he continued. He was still unbelievably hungry and he was getting hot again. To try to cool himself down as well as get something to eat, he started flying with his mouth open. He caught a whole lot of birds, a couple bugs, flock of amateur dragons learning to fly, and rain. Hallelujah, it started to rain. Wait, no! As refreshing as it was, the rain was washing away the fiery scent. Acnologia mustered all of his strength and flew towards the end of the clouds. When he finally escaped, he just barely caught the scent.

 _"That was a miracle,"_ He thought to himself. He might still have a chance.

End of day two.

* * *

As the sun rose on the final day, Acnologia sensed something. The scent was stronger! And up ahead he could smell something big that had the same scent. He new strength, he burst up ahead. There was a wall of clouds. From behind the clouds, Acnologia could smell it. He could see the smoke coming through the cloud barrier.

 _"This is it!"_ he thought to himself _"And the timing couldn't be better. Noon on the third day, talk about close!"_

Acnologia passed through the cloud barrier and his eyes opened wide with shock. There were thousands and thousands of volcanoes here. Some had dragons occupying them, others were empty. The vast land of fire was so large, Acnologia couldn't even see the end of it. But even worse than that...

It all smelled the same!

* * *

Acnologia had three hours. He had spent the last nine scouring as much of the volcanic land as he could and he hadn't even made a dent. Honestly, he didn't even know if this was where the boy was.

"ZENSU, ZENSU!" Acnologia called out "WHERE ARE YOU?"

But it was all in vain. Seconds ticked away, minutes fell and disappeared, hours were crumbled up and left behind.

And five certain black chains began to drag a certain black dragon back to a certain mountain cave.

He had failed.

He was doomed.


	5. Step Apart

Acnologia had been close, extremely close. If Zeref had given him one more day, there was no doubt that he would've found Igneel. In fact, Igneel had been right below Acnologia when the chains started to drag him away. The dragon had buried himself in the ground, hugging the boy tight. The boy was still knocked out, and after three days of being out, even Igneel was getting slightly worried. The boy was extremely hot to touch, and that's saying something coming from Igneel! Beads of sweat were appearing on the small boy's face. His breathing was labored and his face was red. There was a black aura of magic power flowing from his body. It was so powerful it was making the grounds of the Fire Dragon Territory shake.

 _Flashback_

Igneel had been returning from a search trip. He was incredibly distressed. His last human successor had died from what looked, and smelled, like internal burns. He just couldn't get it right. For the last 100 years of his life, he had been training successors, but the end result was always the same. They died. Every time a new one died, Igneel had taken them to the sky dragon, Grandine. She, and her cute little human successor, always told her the same thing. They had died from an over load of magic power. But despite that the fire dragons gave their king hope. That's why he had been on the scouting mission. The **unsuccessful** scouting mission. All of a sudden he sensed an extreme amount of magic power. His ears perked up and his nose began to shuffle. He smelled dragon scales and two people of the masculine gender. Oh, and the over intoxication of roasted fish. Using his echolocation, he sensed that he would soon be in the mountainous region.

In about five minutes, he came upon a small cave in the side of a mountain. There slept a boy. He couldn't see the other boy so he determined that he had left. Igneel looked again at the small figure sleeping on the hay. A black aura was coming off of the boy. But despite the powerful magic he was emitting as he slept, he was kind of cute. He was curled up in a ball, sucking his thumb. And then... Igneel sneezed. It set the bedding on fire and woke the small boy.

"Huh?" the poor confused child sat up. He had a train of drool dripping down his face.

"I'm truly sorry about this," Igneel whispered sincerely. Then he knocked out the boy. It didn't take much because the child was already nearly asleep again. Igneel was glad, though. He didn't want to have to do it again. Then he clutched the unconscious boy to his warm chest and flew off.

 _End Flashback_

"Grandine! Grandine!" Igneel yelled as he reached sky dragon sanctuary.

"Hello, Igneel-san, mistress Grandine is occupied at the moment. Please allow me to show you to a room with better conditions. I will alert Ms. Gradine of your presence."

 _"Sheesh, Grandine's got this girl trained to the teeth. I wonder what her secret is?"_ Igneel thought.

* * *

Wendy streaked down the long, well-lit corridor. She entered a large room with a landing strip. The room had ivy and other vines hanging from the walls and windows. There were nests of all shape and size, some occupied and some abandoned. The open access to the outdoors had called in some other creatures. The walls were made of off-white bricks with the occasional blue brick. There were two intertwining snakes, one yellow and one red. They curled around a luminescent winged staff. The staff in the painting was glowing because it sensed magic power in the room. It was purple, signifying an extreme amount of power in the room. The painting was commonly used to measure the power of a wounded

A large blue-gray, armored dragon lay crumpled on a platform. His successor sat on the floor in front of the platform holding the huge iron dragon. Wendy knew this one by name.

Metalicana. The dragon was here at least once a week.

But that was the way metal dragons were. Hard-headed fools that relied on the thickness of their scales and the amount of their magic power when they got in a fight.

The boy that was sitting at the edge of the platform was also very familiar to Wendy.

Gajeel, the boy that was taken up as a successor because he wouldn't leave Metalicana. Word was that he had hitched a ride to the metal dragon territory by hanging on to Metalicana with his teeth.

And with metal dragons, being the thick-skulled characters that they were, classified this as an amazing feat of strength and bravery.

" _Congratulations_!"

The boy just sat there frowning with his arms crossed over his chest. Wendy locked eyes with him for a second, but when she smiled, like Grandine had taught her to, Gajeel just increased his pout even more and looked down at the floor.

Then, without warning, he took a big handful of the steel enforced floor and munched on it hungrily.

Wendy shot back. He was eating the floor. The Floor!

Both dragons had seen Wendy's reaction from to Gajeel's "irregular" behavior.

Grandine laughed, perspiration flying off of her pearly white head.

Metalicana gave a weak chuckle. He didn't have the strength to give any more than that.

" _Ok,"_ Wendy thought to herself _"I know that the metal dragon territory isn't the best place for anyone to be raised, especially a small child, but this is insane. Eating metal! No wonder they're in the hospital so much! They're crazy! They sit like they have metal pins and needles under their butts, they snore like nails on a metal sheet, and they smell like iron and blood! They're rude and obnoxious, and they have no respect for the beings around them... I should say something, I really should... but that's not what Grandine taught me. I'm Grandine's apprentice so I will do what she says!"_

The boy on the floor looked up at Wendy with half shut eyes. His hair was long and in disarray; he was covered head to toe with dirt and scratches. He had three piercings on each ear and two on his chin. He stared at her as he slowly munched on the crumbled pieces of floor that he had shoved in his mouth. He was tired and dirty and hungry. Wendy didn't like him, but since he was her exact age and height, she felt connected and responsible for him somehow.

"Mistress Grandine," Wendy said to her "Mother", finally getting to the point.

"Yes, Wendy?" Grandine replied, shaking more sweat from her head.

"I came here to tell you that King Igneel has arrived with another child. The child has too much magic power for his body to hold and is suffering."

"Oh God, Igneel, another one?" Grandine mumbled under her breath "Give it a rest!"

"What shall I tell him, Mistress?"

"Tell him to keep the child cool, I'll be right there."

"Excuse me for saying this," Metalicana interjected "but Flame-brain in the waiting room is, well, a flame-brain. You know better than anyone that keeping cool is not his forte."

"You're right," Grandine said as she thought "I've got it. Wendy, take the child to the room reserved for ice dragons. Tell Igneel to stay in the waiting room. I'll be out as soon as I'm done here."

"Yes, Mistress, right away."

Wendy took one more look at the beat up boy on the floor.

"Mistress, Metalicana, is it ok if I take Gajeel with me? I promise we will cause no harm."

"If you stay out of trouble, I don't see why not." Metalicana told the girl. Grandine nodded in approval.

"Thank you!" Wendy told her dragon elders, then turning to the boy "Come on, Gajeel, follow me."

* * *

Wendy walked down the hallway with Gajeel plodding behind her, still munching on his mouthful of floor. They walked to the waiting room in silence. Wendy pushed open one of the large double doors at the end of the hallway.

"Come in here," she beckoned the boy and shooed him through the door.

Inside the room, Igneel sat on a marble bench with the boy in his arms. His black hair was plastered to his head with sweat. His eyes lay half open. One was black and the other was red. The aura coming off of him seemed to be getting darker. Aside from the disastrous condition that he was in, he looked about her age. It must be a dragon apprentice thing.

Every single human successor was the exact same age and height. Of course no one knew their actual age but they all looked the same. They all looked about seven or eight years old and reached 50" tall.

All of the dragons successors were the same size, no matter how long they had been there or how much they ate. None of them seemed to age or grow at all. It didn't matter if it was Kismetscion or Weisslogia or Skiadrum. They were all the same. Maybe it was a coincidence or maybe it was fate. It didn't matter to the dragons though. They were in the midst of a war against humans and a war against their own kind.

The terrains were safe havens created by the leaders of each dragon division to shelter dragons that had taken the humans side in the war. Unfortunately, at the moment, the human and dragon side was taking a beating. Acnologia, their leading slayer, had disappeared 15 years ago and rumor was that he had turned into a dragon and was under the control of another powerful wizard. Successors were the only thing that the leading dragons had now. Call the idea crazy, but these small children were the dragons' only hope.

"Mister Igneel, sir," Wendy addressed the large red dragon in the room "Mistress Grandine has requested that we take your boy to the ice dragon waiting area."

"Ok, show me the way," Igneel said standing.

"Unfortunately, sir, my Mistress has requested that you stay here so that the bo..."

"So that the kid can just take a couple minutes to chill out after being stuck with a flame-brain like you!" Gajeel cut her off and rudely finished the sentence.

Wendy stared at the rude boy in horror. Her eyes were wide and her mouth had dropped to the floor. This boy had just insulted one of the most powerful dragons in existence and was now munching on the floor like it was nobody's business.

"H-He didn't mean it, sir. He's just mentally unstable because Metalicana got hurt again and is in a... huh!?"

Igneel was laughing his head off. The guffawing flame beast was doubled over laughing. Wendy was honestly concerned for the black haired child's health. Tears were coming to Igneel's eyes and then evaporating before they had the chance to drip.

"Ha, good one, boy. Gagel was it? Such a jokester, I like your style. I'm gonna raise my boy to be like that. To have that sense of humor, I mean. Flame-brain! HAHAHAHAHA!" Igneel was hysterical.

Gajeel spit out pieces of tile and sat cross-legged on the ripped up floor.

"Well, anyway, I trust Grandine. If she says that the boy needs to chill, then bury him in ice. I think that you two can carry him. He ain't very heavy. Whoever brought him up hasn't been feeding him too much, if at all."

"Excuse for asking this, sir, but didn't you raise him? Isn't he your apprentice?" Wendy asked cautiously.

"Not yet, Wendy, but I'm hoping that he will be, one day."

"Of course," the bluenette turned to the pouting boy "Let's go, Gajeel"

Wendy walked over to the raven haired boy that Igneel had gently placed on the floor. She bent over and, in vain, tried to pick him up.

"A little help?" Wendy said, through gritted teeth, to the other raven haired child in the room.

"Of course, Weak Link! Now step aside and let the real slayer do the job," Gajeel rudely pushed her out of the way and lifted the boy over his shoulder.

Wendy huffed in exasperation before following the two out of the door.

Igneel watched them go.

 _"This boy is my last chance. His magic power is plentiful, perhaps he can take the strain,"_ Igneel thought to himself and the two slayers took the unconscious child to the ice corridor.

* * *

Wendy ran ahead of Gajeel and unlocked the large double doors.

"In here!" she called, flagging him over.

"I know. I could hear and smell you. I'm a slayer too, you know,"

She knew but she didn't want to accept it. She didn't often interact with most of the other successors. She saw Gajeel often but didn't talk to him. She had seen the others once or twice. Mostly because of medical injuries from the war or training.

Sting, Weisslogia's successor, had come in with a broken leg and a large patch of third-degree burns.

Ryos, Skiadrum's successor, had come in with three broken ribs and a busted eardrum.

And then there was Gajeel, who had broken almost every single bone in his body and had almost every single medical issue that you can name.

The successor she knew best, though, was Kismetscion's apprentice. Kismetscion, the fate dragon, was super cautious with every move he made. Before each training session with his apprentice, Cole, he would look into the future and the past to see if the activity was safe. Cole had only come to Grandine once for a slight overload of magic power.

Wendy knew Cole the best because Kismetscion and Grandine often met to examine the future for medical and magical reasons. Grandine often called Kismetscion over with a severely injured patient. Kismetscion could tell if the patient should be put down or helped. Some of the war injuries were much to severe for Grandine to fix and, even though it was hard, she would occasionally have to put down one of their loyal dragon friends.

Cole was a great friend to Wendy and the two often played in the halls while their "parents" worked.

Wendy realized that she had never met any of Igneel's apprentices. They had all died before she had a chance to.

Gajeel walked through the door and laid the boy on a smaller pedistal in the center of the room.

They had only been inside for a couple minutes when both of them began to shiver.

"Let's go," Wendy told Gajeel.

The two quickly exited the freezing room. Wendy heard loud footsteps and a much smaller voice.

"Can you tell me now?" said the voice.

"No," the voice from the being that made the footsteps echoed down the hallway.

"How about now?"

"How about no?!"

"Now?"

"What's 'now' if you take off the 'w'?"

"No?"

"Correct!"

The two beings talking came into view as they rounded the corridor.

Wendy wanted to hit herself in the head. _Of course!_ The two voices belonged to Kismetscion and Cole. Grandine had probably summoned them on behalf of the black-haired boy's fate, past, and future. Kismetscion would know things that even Igneel didn't know!

The dragon and his boy approached the two other slayers.

"Oh, hey Wendy!" Cole said, waving to the girl "And Gajeel, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh," Gajeel acknowledged him before crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.

"Not so talkative, eh?" Cole said with a laugh.

Gajeel turned the other direction.

"Ha, don't get him started," Wendy told the fate dragon's apprentice after bowing to Kismetscion.

"Wendy," Kismetscion interjected "sorry for interrupting, but Grandine called me in on something urgent. She didn't have time to explain but if it was urgent enough for her to call me, I'm sure it's something big."

"Actually, sir, it's something quite small," Wendy told the dragon " Igneel's new apprentice came in with an overload of magic power. I'm guessing that Grandine though that this one was worth a try because Igneel's giving up hope and he desperately needs a successor."

"Good Lord, Igneel, another one. I swear, he's halfed the human population all ready!" Kismetscion huffed under his breath.

"Father, if it's an overload of magic power, we probably don't have much time. We should get going," Cole said looking up at his foster father.

"Of course, my boy. Wendy, where's Grandine?"

"Down the hallway, past the waiting room, and to the left. She should be in the fifth room on the right side, unless she's done with Metalicana. If she's done, she will probably be making her way over here."

As if on queue, Grandine appeared down the hallway, walking towards the small group.

"Ah, there you are," Kismetscion told Grandine "I was about to come looking for you."

"I'm glad I could save you the effort," Grandine answered "Wendy, take Gajeel and Cole to the bathing room so that they can wash up. After you drop them off, come back here, I'll need your help."

"Yes, Mistress," Wendy said before beckoning to Cole and Gajeel to follow her.

The three headed down the hallway, took a right, and then entered the third door on the right.

"Ok, guys, come back to the room that we were just in," Wendy said and then remembered that Cole hadn't come in "Gajeel knows which one I'm talking about if you need help finding it."

"Ok, thanks, Wendy!" Cole said with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess," was all the thanks she got from Gajeel.

Wendy ran back down the hallway. Grandine and Kismetscion were looking down at the black haired boy. His breathing was labored and his heart was beating at like 500 miles per hour.

"Wendy, go to Igneel and bring him here," Grandine ordered Wendy.

"Yes, Mistress," Wendy said before running to the waiting room and alerting Igneel of the request.

He got up and hurried to the room that the other two dragons were in. Wendy was surprised at first but then remembered that a fire dragon's senses are the most acute of any dragon species. He had simply sniffed them out. Wendy had to sprint after him, so by the time Wendy finally got to rest, she felt like she had just sprinted a mile.

"Igneel," Grandine addressed the newcomer who was now radiating heat like the sun "this boy is extremely powerful. He already has five times the magic power of our strongest slayer. Kismetscion and I have come up with only one way to save him."

"How? What is it?" Igneel asked in ernest.

"We are going to split him into two separate people, one male and one female, and split the magic power equally. Both of them will still be extremely powerful; at least twice as powerful as our slayers. Since they originate from the same person, they will possess a mind link and the power to merge together and form one being. Unfortunately, since we don't know enough information about this boy, they won't be able to turn back into this boy until they both find something that reminds them of him."

"Ok, do it."

"We need your magic. since they will be your apprentices, your magic is needed so that they can withstand your magic's element."

"Well then, just tell me what to do."

"We're going to leave so that we don't also get effected. Just let your magic surge through the room. I've placed a spell on the boy so he will split in about five minutes. Release as much magic as you can in that time."

"Excuse my intrusion, Mistress, but won't the ice magic in this room also affect them?" Wendy asked.

"Yes, it will, but this boy doesn't have much time, we have to do this here and now. The only thing that the ice magic in this room will effect is a resistance to ice magic in the future."

And with that, the three left the room.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Kismetscion warned Grandine after they had left the room and closed the door.

"Why?" Grandine asked confused.

"Because we are making a new human."

"We're actually making two."

"No we're making one. The black haired boy accounts for one. One of these beings will follow his fate. The other has no fate."

"I don't get it."

"We're creating a blip, a mistake, a breach of fate."

"I still don't understand, so show it to me when it happens."

"Ok."

* * *

Igneel was confused but determined.

The boy in front of him was his goal.

"Whew, it's ok, Igneel, you got this," he told himself "Just go crazy like all the other times. All you gotta do is release a crazy amount of magic power."

He let himself go. He released as much magic power as possible. The room began to shake. Ice fell from the ceiling but quickly melted and then evaporated. Steam was seeping under the door.

Grandine was getting a bit worried. That room was constructed with the strongest, coldest ice in the world at the moment; it shouldn't just melt.

 _"Oh Shit, Igneel, don't overdo it, you're gonna kill him!"_

"Rest easy, Grandine, that's not enough magic power to kill him," Kismetscion said, trying to ease her nerves.

"That's a relief!"

"However, it is enough to alter some physical features."

"Much less relieved now," she admitted.

Kismetscion kept explaining fate problems to Grandine. There was quite a bit that he was worried about. Grandine understood most of it, but when it came to the black haired boy's fate, she didn't want to believe it.

Igneel didn't know when to stop. He released more and more until he heard the activation of a magic circle. He stopped releasing magic power, but it would still take a a while for all of the steam to settle.

When the steam finally cleared, there were to sleeping children in front of him. And each of them possessed

Bright...

Pink...

Hair!

 _"There's the alteration that Kismetscion was talking about,"_ Grandine thought.

At that exact moment, Cole and Gajeel rounded the corner, shaking water from their sopping wet hair.

The boys took one look at the two dragons locked deep in conversation and instinctively began to back away. Unfortunately Kismetscion caught sight of them from the corner of his eye.

"Oh good," he said.

The boys froze.

"Cole, come over here!"

"Yes, Father," Cole quickly answered.

Gajeel looked unamused.

Grandine looked at the black haired boy.

"Metalicana wanted to see you, Gajeel," she quickly told him, knowing that he wasn't the most patient person on the planet.

"Cole, Grandine won't believe what I told her about the future of the black haired boy. Tell her what you saw on the way here."

"Yes, Father," Cole turned towards Grandine "That boy was supposed to die the next day. His brother, whom we can still not identify, was going to transform the boy into a demon so that he could continue living, but instead of using the boy's real name, he used the name of the boy's doll, Natsu Dragneel, so that the demon effects wouldn't be so strong. The spell is now unused in book called 'END'. It will activate when within a close proximity to the black haired boy, but that shouldn't be a problem anymore."

"Fine, if you both saw the same thing, I guess I have to accept," Grandine said, finally submitting.

The doors to the ice room opened. Stream poured out of the room.

"Natsu Dragneel, huh?" Igneel's booming voice could be heard over the hiss of the steam. "That's his name, now."

He held up the pink haired boy.

"What about the girl?" Wendy asked.

"Well, since they're twins, she's just a female Natsu, right?"

"Yeah, I guess?!"

"How about Fillatsu?"

"Huh? Where did you ge..."

"Yeah, you're right, that's not cool enough. Oh! We can just change the 'F' to a 'Ph'.That's better, right?"

"Um, Yeah."

"So we have Natsu," he held up the boy "and Phillatsu!" He held up the girl.

"That girl," Cole said with wide eyes "I can't see her. She's not logged in my fate magic. She's not there!"

He was holding his head.

"What's wrong with my power. It doesn't work. I failed you, Father. I'm sorry."

"It's not you," Kismetscion tried to comfort the boy "That girl has no fate. She will mess up everything. She's unpredictable. That's why we're going to kill her."

"What?!" Igneel, Wendy, and Cole said simultaneously.

"Over my dead body!" Igneel said setting himself on fire.

"We have to," Kismetscion said calmly "If we don't, she'll mess up the fate of everyone she interacts with."

"Just try to harm her and I'll kill you myself," Igneel warned.

"Kismetscion's right! It must be done!" Grandine screamed with her eyes shut tight.

Igneel placed the two on the ground and put a talon on each of their foreheads.

"What are you doing?!" Kismetscion asked confused, he had never not known what was happening.

Igneel scratched both of their foreheads. The cut was deep enough to draw blood but not deep enough to leave a scar. He took the blood from the cuts and put one drop of the other's blood into each twin's wound.

"Why did you do that?" Grandine asked, even though she was pretty sure of what had just happened.

"To be honest, I have some experience in this subject, and I noticed that there was one spell that you didn't tell me was activated. The Life Joint," Igneel said.

Grandine was confused. _How did he know?_

"I have simply activated it," Igneel explained "By transferring the blood, their lives are now connected. If one is killed, the other will die within the next hour unless the being that killed the first one is killed."

"But then.." Kismetscion stuttered.

"That's right, you kill the girl and the boy dies too. You wouldn't want to kill my last attempt at raising successors, would you?"

"Well, no."

"Then don't try anything!"

And with that, he was gone.


	6. Feel the Burn

Igneel flew back to the Fire Dragon Sanctuary feeling triumphant. He clutched the sleeping twins to his chest and landed on top of his volcano. All around him there were murmurs of _Look, Igneel's back_ and _What's that he's holding?_ In any case, there was soon a large congregation of fire dragons around the base of the massive volcano.

"Igneel, whacha got there?" a large fire dragon called out to Igneel. His back was covered in a hard shell of large rocks and hardened lava. In some places, the molten rock was still clearly visible as it flowed through the maze of jagged boulders. His two children were slurping up the lava as fast as the could. If Igneel remembered correctly, a fairly rare occasion, this dragon's name was Molten Torch.

"My new apprentices!" Igneel roared "Thanks to all of you, I've found the perfect two."

The entire sanctuary erupted, literally.

Every dragon tilted their head, or heads, up to the sky and shot beautiful crimson flames into the clouds of smoke above them.

It was truly a great day for the fire breathers.

* * *

A couple weeks later

* * *

"Natsu, Phillatsu! What the hell did you do!" Igneel screamed, eyes wide as he took in his home. It wasn't a pretty sight. Half of the volcano was gone to God knows where and the other half was burning bright with letters spelling out

 **WELLKOM BAK PAPPA!**

"We're here, Papa!" Phillatsu cried out, waving.

"We missed you because you were gone on such a long trip," Natsu added, innocently.

By the way they were talking, Igneel would never have guessed that they had just blown up his home.

"Your spelling is a bit off, you know," Igneel shouted at them. That wasn't a surprise, though. The Dragneel family only had two volumes, loud and louder.

"Ha! I told you that 'back' was spelled with a 'c' not a 'k'. Sheesh, you're so stupid!" Natsu retorted.

Phillatsu hit him square in the face with a right hook.

"Say that one more time, I dare you!" she challenged.

"You're stu-,"

She smashed his face into the ground and then stood on the mess of rosy hair.

"Get of your brother, Philli!" Igneel told the triumphant girl.

"Fine, Papa!" she leaned over and picked Natsu up "But this is only because Papa said." She stuck a threatening finger in his face.

He bit it.

She smashed him back into the ground.

"Philli!" Igneel warned.

She picked Natsu up again.

His eyes were spinning and there were obvious lumps on his head, so she kindly slapped him until his eyes stopped spinning.

"God, Philli, that hurt. If you're gonna do that, at least give me a warning."

"Hey, you don't do that!"

"Well, it's a new thing I'm starting today."

"Yeah, right," Phillatsu retorted and turned to face Igneel.

"Alright, today, we're going over to Weisslogia's place for a dragon meeting. I'm bringing you two because..." he snapped his head back and forth, looking around, "If it's at Weisslogia's place, Sting's gonna be there."

Natsu and Phillatsu looked at each other.

"Yes, rematch!" they said in unison.

At the moment, they were on par with Sting and Igneel wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look of Weisslogia's face.

"Pfft, two times more powerful than the next strongest slayer, and that's Sting, mind you, yeah right!" Weisslogia would always say.

Oh, how Igneel wanted to prove him wrong. He was going to have Phillatsu challenge Sting. It would look great to have a girl beat him.

"Papa, you look creepy," Igneel heard Natsu say, and then he realized that he was drooling flames at the thought of beating Weisslogia.

"Oops! Well here's the plan, Philli's gonna challenge Sting, beat him up, and then we will all be victorious, and Weisslogia will finally shut his trap."

"Wait, why Philli? We all know that I'm the stronger slayer," Natsu gloated, flexing.

Igneel chuckled at his son's self-confidence. He knew it wasn't true, though. Natsu had never beaten Phillatsu in a fight, but then Phillatsu had never beaten Natsu. It was just as Grandine said.

They were absolute equals.

"I suspect that the other slayers will be there as well. Maybe one of them will fight you. Try Gajeel!" Igneel reassured his son.

"Fine, when are we leaving?"

"ASAP!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Phillatsu yelled, punching her fist in the air.

"Let's go in, talons blazing!" Natsu added, his fist going up too.

"We're the color of blood and as destructive as hell, but is that gonna stop us?" Igneel yelled.

"Hell no!" was the answer he got from the twins as the vaulted themselves up on his back.

And they were off to the blinding holy sanctuary of the white dragons.

* * *

"Oh, there are those Flaming Bastards," Weisslogia scoffed as he saw Igneel and the twins appear on the horizon.

Sting's cheeks flushed and he looked at his feet.

"You've gotten terribly quiet, my boy," the white dragon said looking down at his son.

"Oh, I didn't realize, sorry. I was just thinking. Who do you think I'll have to fight this time?" the blond asked.

"Doesn't matter, does it?" the dragon said with a smirk "You've been here the longest, so you're still the most powerful."

"But, Fath..."

"You'll just smash their faces into the rocks like always."

"Yeah, but what if I..."

"Ha! We'll show the world to fear a white dragon!"

"But, Father, I don't want to fi..."

He was cut off again as Igneel landed beside the two of them. The twins were in the middle of a heated fist fight on his back. Igneel saw the two staring awkwardly at his back, and only then did he notice the commotion.

"Oh, ha, you two, calm down. We've arrived so you don't have to continue your, er, warm-up," Igneel tried.

He shot a glance towards Weisslogia, who shook his head in disbelief. Igneel then lowered his head to Sting.

 _"That boy will be the **third** best at the end of this day!"_ he thought to himself.

Igneel sighed as his thoughts returned to the rambunctious duo on his back. He would let them fight until the rest of the crew assembled.

Skiadrum and Ryos were the first to arrive.

"Hey, Skiadrum! Long time, no see!" Weisslogia greeted the black dragon with a chest bump.

"Not anymore!" Skiadrum greeted his friends. He had once been extremely quiet and reserved, but finding Ryos had changed him, as Igneel thought, for the better. The new Skiadrum was much more sociable and comfortable to be around. Not that Igneel cared about the atmosphere being comfortable. He was, quite honestly, the one who usually broke the barriers in the dragon meetings. He had been told on many occasions that it was a good habit, so he had taken to training the twins in the same manner. And they were, well to put it frankly, not afraid of socially awkward situations.

Igneel couldn't be more proud!

Ryos slid off of Skiadrum's back. He quietly sat down in the huge dragon's shadow.

"Yo, Rogue!" Sting shouted out to the raven-haired boy.

He grabbed Ryos by the shoulders and shook him.

"I missed you, man, you guys never come around anymore!" Sting told the reserved boy.

"Sting, don't call me by that nickname, it's embarrassing," Ryos said calmly.

"Huh, I know that voice," Natsu said, stopping his fist midway.

"Yeah, me too," Phillatsu said stopping as well "That's Rogue!"

"Yo, Rogue!" Natsu yelled to the shadow slayer from the fire dragon's back.

"Ughh, you too, stop using that nickname. It's annoying."

"Huh? I think it's cool! I want a nickname like that. Maybe 'Fire Demon' or 'Flaming Terror' or 'Salamander'," Phillatsu mused aloud while trying to reassure Ryos.

"Really, 'Salamander'! That's so dumb!" Natsu retorted.

"Oh yeah, you should know about being dumb, now shouldn't you!" his twin shouted back.

"I don't understand why they have to shout. They're literally two feet from each other," Ryos said as he looked at the two fire slayers yelling at each other. It must be nice, to have no shame. He had to admit, he was jealous. The twins did whatever they wanted, whenever. They didn't care what anyone else thought.

"You really shouldn't get worked up about being called 'Rogue'. It's a really cool name and basically everyone calls you by it," Sting reassured his shy friend.

In truth, Ryos didn't hate being called 'Rogue', he was just embarrassed so easily.

"Fine," the newly named Rogue threw his hands up in the air "I've already basically lost this battle anyway, haven't I?!"

"That's the spirit!" Sting said slapping Rogue on the back so hard the breath was knocked out of him.

It wasn't long before the rest of the slayers arrived with their parents.

"Yo, Rogue, what's up, Blood Brother," Gajeel shouted to the boy sitting on the ground with Sting and, by now, Natsu, Phillatsu, and Wendy.

"Nothing much!" Rogue said giving Gajeel a high-five.

Cole and Kismetscion were the last ones to arrive.

"Ha, Father, I told you that we were going to be late. I saw it!" Cole laughed.

"Fine, I'll give you credit, this time," Cole's father figure told the boy with a chuckle.

"We are going to start out meeting, so you guys can go do something elsewhere," Weisslogia told the congregation of children.

"Ok thanks, Father," Sting told the dragon "Come on, guys."

The group walked through a grove of glowing trees.

"So what should we do?" Wendy asked.

"How 'bout a couple fights?" Natsu offered.

"Sure, I've been waiting to beat you up!" Gajeel said crossing his arms over his chest and sneering at Natsu.

"Oh, so scared," Natsu faked terror "I wonder, how did that work out for you last time, metal head?"

They all recalled the fight.

Natsu had smashed Gajeel.

"Ha, that was funny!" Phillatsu chuckled under her breath.

"Heard that!" Gajeel said and punched her in the face.

"Oh, that's a first!" she shot back, kicking him in the stomach.

"Calm down, you two!" Wendy shouted above the racket, waving her arms up and down like she was a hungry baby bird.

"Yeah, whatever. Gajeel, you and Natsu can fight all you want," Phillatsu told the iron dragon slayer.

"Wait!" Cole said, putting his arms over his head "You're not the kind of person who just watches fights. What are you going to to do?"

With a snicker, she turned her head towards Sting. An evil smile was on her lips.

 _"Oh, I knew it. Why do **I** have to fight **her**!" _ he thought, blushing.

He really hadn't wanted to fight her, ever.

Rogue cleared his throat just enough for Sting to hear him, "You're blushing."

"Oh, no!"

"I'm going to fight Sting!" Phillatsu proclaimed.

"Well, I thought we could do something way more fun than fighting," Sting tried.

"Backing out of it, huh?" she said smashing her fists together. A crimson flame engulfed both of her hands and danced wildly in dry air.

"No, it's just I, well, I..." his voice trailed off. She was never going to let him off the hook.

He stepped forward until he was right in front of her.

She let out a small laugh signaling that she was ready.

And then with no warning whatsoever, he turned her around so that her back was facing Rogue, and pushed her towards him.

Once she had regained her balance, she shook her head slightly and shot him a questioning look.

"What was tha..." she was cut off as he did it again.

"What the heck are you doing?!" Natsu yelled at him.

Natsu may have been hard-headed and reckless, but he really did care for his sister's safety, perhaps even over his own.

Sting pushed her again. He did it one more time and sent her toppling backwards into Rogue, who also fell back into a hole in the ground that had been covered by the small shadow of a tree.

"Philli!" Natsu screeched as he watched his sister and the shadow dragon slayer topple backwards into the hole. He ran forward, grabbed Sting by the collar of his shirt, and jumped into the hole as well.

"What the heck are you guys doing?" Gajeel yelled down the hole.

"In we go, too!" Cole said grabbing Wendy's hand and giving Gajeel a shove in the back, before he too jumped down the hole.

* * *

It was a long way down so when Phillatsu finally hit water, it hurt like hell.

But at least she had the liberty of landing foot-first.

Rogue hit the water hard... on his stomach.

"Owwwowwwwwowwwww," he groaned as he stood in the waist-high water.

"OUTTA THE WAAAAAAAY!" they heard Sting scream and Phillatsu barely had time to yank Rogue out from under the tunnel before Sting and Natsu came screaming out of the tunnel.

Then Gajeel came plummeting out followed by Cole and Wendy, who promptly landed on top of Gajeel.

"You trying to pick a fight!" Gajeel yelled at Cole, grabbing him by the collar.

"Whoa!" Wendy breathed in amazement as she looked around the huge cavern.

Everyone stared in awe.

The walls and ceiling were lit by glowing white flowers and glowworms. Three waterfalls flowed from the walls in a gentle cascade. The floor was neck deep in clear warm water and it seemed to filtering out through cracks in the also glowing floor.

"This is what I wanted you guys to see. I think that we should swim today," Sting explained.

"Ha, only an idiot would turn that down!" Gajeel shouted.

Natsu crossed his arms over his chest, "Ok, waiting for you to turn it down."

"You're just begging for it aren't you!" Gajeel roared, punching Natsu in the face.

"Fire dragons don't beg!" Natsu shouted back, kneeing him in the stomach.

Sting shook his head. He turned towards Phillatsu.

"So do you like it?" he asked.

"So beautiful," the girl said in awe. It was quiet but not anything that Sting's ears couldn't pick up. His face turned the color of her hair.

"You're blushing," Rogue said coming up behind him.

"Oh, no!"

Phillatsu turned around. Her eyes were glassed over and her lips were brought up into a tiny smile.

"Hey, are you ok?" Sting asked her.

"Oh, just give her a few minutes, she's got some weird obsession with white dragon light. Don't worry, it'll wear off eventually. Igneel's been giving extra coaching to try to break her of that habit. I'm honestly surprised that she got this far without weirding out like that!" Natsu shouted over from where Wendy had finally gotten the him and Gajeel to stop fighting.

Sting turned back around just in time to see her knees give out. He caught her and pulled her back to the banks. Then he pulled himself up beside her.

 _"She looks so peaceful when she's out like this, but Natsu's right. I've seen her weird out like this before, and that happened as soon as she set foot on the island. What's different this time,"_ he thought to himself _"Well, the only light in this cavern is mine. Oh, shut up, immodesty, you're going to be the death of me!"_

He heard a small groan and turned towards the female beside him. Her eyes were now the same usual smoky color and her huge grin had reappeared.

"What are we waiting for, Let's go swimming!" she yelled diving in.

"Yeah!" Natsu shouted spraying both Gajeel and Wendy with water.

"Oh, it is so on!" Gajeel screeched, spraying Natsu back.

"I hope you don't mind me joining," Cole said wading over.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Natsu screamed sweeping up a wave so large that it sent Wendy rushing back into Cole.

"Yikes!" Cole screeched, standing up the disoriented Wendy.

He sent a powerful wave back swamping both Natsu and Gajeel.

"I'm in, too!" Sting shouted, doing a cannonball off the edge. The wake sprayed the four dragon slayers that were already "locked in combat."

Rogue sat on the edge with his feet in the water, watching it all unfold. He was honestly perfectly fine with sitting this one out and just watching. Unfortunately, Phillatsu didn't agree.

She grabbed him by the arm and swung him into the middle of the chaos before jumping in after him.

And so the dragon slayers promptly spent the rest of the hour splashing each other.

* * *

"That was fun," Natsu said as he floated around in the water on his back.

"Yeah, I could do this any day of the week," Cole replied from the sandy bank where he was counting the glowworms on the ceiling.

"How'd you even find this place, Sting?" Gajeel asked the white dragon slayer as he rinsed glowing flower petals out of his hair. Phillatsu had made fun of him for it while Wendy told him that it was cute. Natsu had just laughed. Jerk.

"I was wondering the same thing," Rogue agreed as he too stared at the ceiling from his place floating in the water.

"Well, I was walking back to the cave that Weisslogia and I share and something came flying through the air and hit me in the head. I bet anything, it's those glistening glowbirds. They throw eggs into the cave every morning," he explained as he handed Phillatsu another flower to float in the water "It caught me off balance and I fell into that hole."

He lifted his hand to point to the tunnel in the ceiling.

"I thought the place was really cool, so I decorated it!" he finished.

"It's really pretty," Wendy said calmly as she looked up from the drawing of a river with jumping fish that she had drawn in the sand.

They stayed there in agreeable silence for another hour.

Suddenly, they heard the dragons' voices from above them.

Igneel's head appeared over the hole. All he saw was Natsu floating around below him.

"Natsu?" Igneel said, confused.

"Hey, Papa!" the boy called up.

Phillatsu's head raised.

"Papa!" she called jumping in next to Natsu.

"Oh, good, you're there too," Igneel said relieved, "Come on up, you guys."

He sniffed the air, "And the rest of you guys, too."

"Ok," Sting called up, "Could you throw down the rope that's attached to the tree? In our 'haste' to get down here, I forgot to throw it down."

He looked straight at Natsu, who scratched his head innocently.

"Here you go," Igneel called as he sent the rope down.

One after another, the dragon slayers climbed up the rope. There were knots tied on it so it was easier to grip.

Once all of them were out, they walked back to the meeting area where the other dragons were waiting for them.

"I had a lot of fun today!" Phillatsu told Sting.

"Yeah, it was great!" Natsu shouted punching the air.

"We should do it again sometime!" Phillatsu told him and then she pulled him in and hugged him.

"Haha, group hug!" Wendy shouted and all of the slayers rushed in and hugged the other two.

Cole somehow managed to pull Gajeel and Rogue in as well.

The dragons chuckled at the sight of the hugging clump.

When they all pulled away, Phillatsu punched Sting in the shoulder.

"Thanks for today!" she shouted waving as she ran to get on Igneel's back with Natsu.

"No problem!" he called back, holding his shoulder.

Yep, that was gonna leave a bruise.

But he didn't care. She had hugged him!

"You're blushing."

"Rogue, I swear!" he challenged.

"Haha! That's the Sting I know!" Rogue called and waved and he climbed onto Skiadrum's back.

Sting watched the two go.

"Alright, boy, back to training," Weisslogia told him and turned to go to the training ring that they had set up.

"Oh, yeah. Coming, Father!"


	7. I'll See You When You Get Back

Really sorry about the super long update time. With semester finals and other education related issues, I had to take a small break. Then I had a pretty big family problem to deal with and it took a while to sort out.

So without further ado...

* * *

It was late at night when he left.

"Papa, where are you going?" Phillatsu asked, rubbing her eyes.

"There is a last minute emergency meeting of the dragon leaders that I have to attend," Igneel replied.

"Why can't we come with?" Natsu asked, sitting up.

"I was told that it was a dragons only meeting. Just go back to sleep, I promise I'll be back soon," Igneel reassured them before taking off.

"Ok," Natsu said to basically no one before settling back down.

Phillatsu watched him until she couldn't see him any more. It was weird. Igneel always took them everywhere.

She would think about it later, all this thinking was hurting her head.

She went back to the bedding next to her brother and soon both of them were shaking the mountain with their snores.

* * *

Igneel flew over the mountains until he exited the Fire Sanctuary.

After a couple of turns and countless miles of flying, he arrived at a gaping cave filled with five solemn dragons.

"Ok, we've gathered," Kismetscion started off "I called this meeting because I've foreseen the destruction of all dragons everywhere."

"That's impossible, we've been fighting for hundreds of years and nothing has happened," Skiadrum replied.

"I know that, but lately there has been a rise of wizard guilds. One holds a key powerful enough to kill all dragons, good and bad, in one small gesture." Kismetscion informed the group.

"Yes, a lizard with a deathly sickness that spreads faster than a wildfire in a drought. The Reaper's Bliss sickness is incurable. We have to act fast!" Grandine told the dragons.

"We will send our dragon slayers to the future for safety."

"When?" Weisslogia asked.

"Tomorrow night," Grandine said.

"Then it's been settled," Skiadrum concluded "Bring them here at sundown tomorrow, we'll say goodbye together."

The dragons nodded at each other solemnly. Each held sadness in their hearts but all were too proud to show it.

Igneel, who had been surprisingly quiet during the meeting, took off towards his little humans.

Grandine watched him go, "I'm sorry, Igneel. The thought of never seeing them again brings tears to my eyes, but then I think about them in another happy place in the future."

Tears rolled down her face.

* * *

Igneel was crying, too.

He just couldn't unsee memories of the twins dancing and laughing with him. Of course he wanted them to be happy, but in some selfish part of his mind, he had wished that they could always be together.

He flew back to the mountain and quietly snuck in so he didn't wake up the sleeping children, not that they were light sleepers.

He got to the main compartment and curled his body around them.

Soon he too, was fast asleep and snoring louder that thunder.

 _Natsu, Phillatsu, part of me will always rest inside you. You will forget the others, you may even forget me, but you will never forget each other; deep down you are one person. I pray that you will never need to figure that out._

* * *

 **Sundown the next day**

"Igneel, where are we going?" Phillatsu asked he father, her eyes wide and excited.

"To meet up with your friends," Igneel's voice was emotionless as he tried to keep it from shaking.

Natsu was jumping up and down due to the huge amount of pent-up energy he had.

"Come on, Papa, tell us. I mean, you didn't break up every fight we had just because you didn't want us fighting."

"Climb on my back, you two. I guess you'll just have to find out on your own, won't you."

"Alright!"

The twins scurried up their father's back. Natsu lay in between Igneel's back spines, enjoying the warmth. Phillatsu, on the other hand, sat right in between the two horns on the top of his head. It looked almost like she was ordering the dragon to rush into battle from her point of command.

* * *

Igneel and the twins weren't the first there, but they weren't the last.

Metalicana and Gajeel swooped in a good 15 minutes later that them.

"Well, now that we're all gathered, LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" Weisslogia shouted.

The trees around them lit up with Weisslogia's light and the surrounding plants shot glittering pollen into the air.

Each dragon shot powerful bursts of magic that exploded into all different shapes in the night sky.

Some of Grandine's helpers revealed a huge banquet with everything each dragon slayer loved.

There were incredibly spicy pieces of flaming meat for the twins, muffins that glowed for Sting, shadow noodles for Rogue, a ton of sweets, that had to be tied down for fear that they would float away, for Wendy, slabs of titanium, a delicacy, for Gajeel, and just salad for Cole. Cole usually ate memories, when someone or something thought about a memory, he could indulge himself in it. A strange concept, the twins thought, but questioning it hurt their heads so they stopped.

The dragon slayers stuffed themselves until they were bursting at the seams. Then they gathered around a campfire and started telling stories.

"I've got it! We should tell 'em how they ended up with us!" Metalicana told the group.

"Ah, good idea, screws for brains," Igneel said with a laugh.

"I'll go first!" Grandine said, facing the children.

* * *

 **Flashback**

The weather didn't fit the mood I was feeling. The air was so full of death you could smell it. Even the soft sound of the wind made me fear for my life. The cloudless sky and bright sun looked like they were laughing at me, taunting me, unsubtly telling me that I had lost everything.

There were bodies everywhere, but not so much as a flinch came from a single one. Dragons of all sorts had been taken down. Both sides suffered severe losses.

Hundreds, no thousands of lost lives, dragon and human.

I kept combing through the corpses.

The only movement I saw was the effect of the wind, blowing through the bodies as if the test if they were truly lifeless.

I saw allies and enemies, acquaintances and friends, strangers and family.

The familiar faces got to me.

Something set in.

Something in my mind that had somehow remained off, was switched on.

Before me, I saw father, lifeless.

This was real.

This was real and he was gone.

Somehow, in all of my years, that had never occurred to me.

Until it happened to me, the battlefields I scoured held bodies of valiant soldiers that had lost their lives while fighting for what was right.

Somehow, I never quite comprehended that those soldiers might have meant something to another.

Now that I think back, most had the Mate Mark, a symbol that is hard to give and impossible to remove. A symbol of eternal love for another, a promise that, if broken, can take one's life.

But then I saw it, in my father's grasp was a small child, no bigger than one of my claws. She had royal blue hair and deep chocolate eyes. The wind ripped through her hair and her tattered clothing.

I saw the slightest of movement; she was shivering.

The windy day was too cold for a child of her size and age.

She was the last living soul on that battlefield.

* * *

"And that, children, is how I found Windy Wendy!" Grandine concluded her story.

There were tears in both Cole and Wendy's eyes, as well as some of the other dragons'. Gajeel looked like he just got a joke someone had told him a week ago.

"Oh, I get it now! you see I assumed you called her Windy Wendy because, you know, she's a sky dragon slayer!" Gajeel said with a laugh.

"That was cool, I didn't know that!" Sting said turning toward Wendy.

"Funny enough, neither did I," Wendy replied with a giggle.

"Come to think of it, you never told me how you found me, Dad," Sting said turning towards Weisslogia.

"Same here," Rogue faced Skiadrum.

"Tonight, you will all find out," Weisslogia reassured the two.

"I'll go next," Kismetscion offered "Though my story isn't nearly as graphic as Grandine's."

* * *

 **Flashback**

For some reason, I thought I heard someone calling my name.

Not loudly, of course, just the faintest whisper.

Nothing a dragon's ears couldn't pick up, but quiet nonetheless.

I poked my head out of the cave that I had made my base of operations. There it was again.

No, it wasn't my name, it was a small voice calling out. Asking anyone that would listen to change things.

I followed the sound for what seemed like hours.

The wind blew the scent around, and showered the land with the scent of death.

In the smallest corner of the Earth, I saw him.

There were no dead bodies, no blood, no smoke.

Just crumbling buildings and wrecked streets.

In an abandoned town, there was an abandoned boy.

Maybe it was the small boy crying out in the corner or perhaps it was myself entering the village, but for a second, the world and life I was living didn't seem so lonely anymore.

It was in that moment that I knew I had to have this child. This small, lonely child needed to be happy.

I don't know what came upon me, but all of a sudden, it was my responsibility. It was my job. I was the one who had to make him happy.

* * *

Grandine sighed, wiping tears from her eyes, "Every time you tell that story, I can't help crying."

"Well, um, touching story and all, but why the hell did you name him Cole?" Natsu interjected.

"NATSU! Language!" Wendy yelled at the salmon-haired male.

"Ok, sorry! Why the reverse heaven did you name him Cole?"

"I'm guessing that he used to be a slave because tattooed on his back were the characters 'C-013' and with a little imagination, it spells 'Cole" Kismetscion told the boy.

"I still have it actually!" Cole proudly told the group before stripping off his shirt, turning and pointing to his back, "See!"

"Hey, Skiadrum, I recall you telling me that I was found in a run-down town," Rogue turned to his foster father.

"So I did, so I did,"

* * *

 **Flashback**

Death.

How could you betray your own kind for puny two-legged creatures.

Why was this rebellion even happening? If dragons hadn't betrayed their own kind, this stupid war would've been over as soon as it had begun.

Rampage.

Town after town fell to my power. Why should they stand? They stained the land. The rolling hills interrupted by unbecoming human civilizations.

So why did it feel wrong.

With every town I destroyed, with every person I brutally murdered in front of their own family, with every child I ripped from his parents' arms... was I tarnishing the name of a dragon?

Was I being the monster I was trying to prove dragons were not?

I was one of the only living shadow dragons on the dragon side of the war, and I was often taunted by the more glamorous dragons.

"Why don't you just sink into the shadows where a beast like you belongs," They would tell me.

And just like that, the shadows I had come to love became the enemy, and soon I began to wonder how anyone could like shadows.

That was until I saw that small child crying in the corner of my newly targeted city.

All around him, people, his family and his enemies alike, were being murdered.

And I was one of the dragons doing it.

I had him cornered, and he was crying rivers while pushing his back further into the wall.

I could barely pick up his faint voice.

It said, "Why? Why me? Why can't I hold onto anything I treasure?" He looked longingly at the wall covered in shadow, "Why can't I become a shadow? Why can't I be safe and sound in the darkness? Why can't I just disappear?"

It hit me.

Did he just wish to become a shadow? The thing that I had been told was unbecoming all of these years.

Were all humans like this? Did I even bother to ask before I ended their lives?

No.

I was done with that stupid war, I just wanted to sleep in silence with the child in front of me. I just wanted to calm him down and show him that he was safe.

* * *

"Whoa, you fought against humans once?" Phillatsu looked at Skiadrum with huge eyes. Funny enough, those eyes didn't hold terror or even hate like he had feared. Instead they were full of fascination.

"Yeah, but finding Rogue turned it around," Skiadrum replied.

"That's Rogue for you," Sting said confidently, "On the outside he seems tough, but on the ins-"

"He's like burnt meat," Natsu concluded.

"Why are you comparing him to food!" The other dragon slayers shouted. Well, all except for Phillatsu, who sate there with her eyes closed, nodding approval.

"Just think about it. On the outside, the meat is charred and tough. If you let that deter you, you'll never get to the soft stuff that's hidden inside," Natsu explained.

"Well, I guess," Wendy said with a sigh, "But you two need to stop making everything a reference to your meals."

"Why? It's the best time of the day!" Phillatsu told her, looking confused.

"Speaking of food, I'll go next," Metalicana volunteered himself.

The children fell silent.

* * *

 **Flashback**

All starving children think of food.

And this town was full of them.

Not food...

Starving children.

The ground was littered with lifeless bodies and the empty shells of abandoned children that still lived but wished they didn't.

In some corners of the town, others were ripped to shreds while the others devoured their own friends.

It was an abhorring sight, while strangely fascinating.

I had misjudged the potential of this town. All of the adults had abandoned their children, left them to fend for themselves.

Some of the children had banded together into little truces or alliances where they hunted together and shared their food.

Despite the fascination I had attained from my perch in the sky, I had not received any information as to what was happening.

I spotted a boy, one a bit larger that the rest with long unruly, black hair, that was to my liking. I mean, he was a monster. Bashing skulls together while sucking on a piece of iron. I guessed the iron was there to keep his mind off of the hunger in his stomach. He was definitely not in a truce as no one came to his aid. There were obvious battle scars littering his arms and an open wound on his bare side, though that one was minor and would heal if given time.

I noticed the boy was standing over the dead body of a girl with short blue hair. An attacking boy got close enough to her corpse to accidentally step on her lifeless hand. The long haired boy shrieked before he picked up a metal slate that lay by his feet and smashed it into the other's head. There was a sickening, life ending crunch, and the boy fell it the ground, his skull broken into many pieces.

The rest of the advancing attackers backed off before running as fast as their malnutritioned legs could carry them.

I watched them go with a secret smile. This boy was definitely willing to do whatever it took to protect the ones he felt for.

I turned my attention back to the long haired boy. To my surprise, he was kneeling beside the girl's corpse, crying.

It was time I jumped in.

"I'll take her to a place where she can get a proper burial," I told the boy, a lot louder than I wanted to given the circumstances.

He jumped a little at the suddenness of my voice and there was a noticeable intake of breath before he reverted back to normal and turned his tear streaked towards me.

"You ain't takin' her away from me!" He rasped out ferociously with a tone I didn't think a person in his state could manage, "If you're gonna take her, I'm coming to!"

"You have to continue your battles where hers have left off," I told the boy as gently as I could manage.

"Yer not takin' her away from me!" He screamed.

"It's for the best," I told him, slowly loosing my control.

A boy of his ability could never fight to his full potential if he was tied down in this way.

Despite the protests, I gently shoved the boy away from the blue haired girl's corpse before gently picking her off of the ground.

"NO!" The boy screeched "NO, GIVE 'ER BACK!"

"This is for the best," I growled at him "Now get that nasty look out of your eye and continue your fight. Fight for both you and your friend."

"I can't, I NEED HER!"

"She's gone, just be thankful that she gets as much as I'm offering!" I snapped at the boy. With that, I took off towards home.

* * *

"It was only when I got home that I realized that Gajeel had hitched a ride," Metalicana told the group, ending the story.

"That's sad," Wendy mumbled, tears in her eyes.

Phillatsu smelled something salt coming from her left. When she turned, she was met with the sight of Gajeel looking at the ground, crying silently.

"Oi, are you alright?" She asked the sobbing boy. It wasn't rough and demanding like normal. It was gentle, like Wendy's.

"I'm just fine! Don't mess with me!" Was the gruff reply.

Though his memory had been wiped when he decided to become a dragon slayer, Gajeel remembered the girl. More than that, he still had feelings for her.

This was the one major flaw of the magic.

Love could not be forgotten.

"Well, I guess I know why the metal head stays away from those types of feelings," Natsu snickered.

Phillatsu smacked him on the head.

"How would you feel if I was killed and then a huge creature swooped out of the sky to take me away? You would fight for me, right? You would cry and beg to try to stop me from being taken away. Don't turn your head away, I know you would."

There was a long pause.

"And, Natsu?" The small girl took a breath, "I would do the same for you.

There was another long pause in silence.

Tears silently rolled down Natsu's face.

"Yeah, I'd fight for you, I'd never let you get out of my sight. If I do, I don't have the right to call you my sister."

"That's a bit extreme, don't you think," Phillatsu said with a giggle.

Sting's heart seized with that small giggle, like she had just lightened the mood tenfold with a simple unintentional laugh.

"F-Father," He turned to Weisslogia before he did something impossibly stupid, "How did you find me?"

* * *

 **Flashback**

Rotting flesh is one, no the worst smell in the world.

The ground beneath me was the infamous Dragon's Graveyard. The fiercest, longest, and most devastating battles had taken place here. It was a huge valley now turned swamp where dragons from both sides clashed. On one side of the valley, over a tall strip of mountains, lay the headquarters of the dragon and human alliance. On the other side of the valley, over a different strip of impossibly high mountains and cliffs, lay the headquarters of the dragons.

Why they were so close, I still didn't was tasked with flying through the valley in hopes of finding any living being that had yet to die. Though I did this once a day, it was short lived as there was basically never any form of life on the ground below me.

But this day was different.

My ears picked up a far off shriek and the flapping of wings. There was also a loud, prominent sloshing, like someone had swallowed the ocean and proceeded to jump up and down.

I came around a large outcropping and all of a sudden the sloshing made sense.

An ocean dragon came into view. A nasty brute of a creature, with barnacles plastered so thick on his skin, it could easily function as armor. As he flapped his wings, salt rained down from his dry, cracked skin. His head was shaped like that of a serpent with a single crest of black spines running from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. His eyes glowed red, a sign of the rebellion. His claws, each longer than five grown men standing on each other's shoulders, were outstretched and reaching for something on an old dragon ribcage.

I followed the life ending daggers to the ground.

There was a human child scrambling up the giant prongs of a deceased dragon's ribs. He seemed to be clutching something to his chest. His clothes were ripped and bloody and his platinum blond hair was so dirty, one could only tell it's true color by looking at the roots. He was barefoot and his feet looked cut and burned. He was out of breath, his movements sluggish.

He seemed to have worked himself into a corner. The rib he had been running across had broken off. The only direction he could go was up. Well, he could go down, but that was pretty much ensured demise. The boy tilted his head upwards, eyes squinting at the light. He reached his hand upwards. even standing on his tiptoes, the next rib was about a meter away.

The boy lowered his hand in defeat. He began to shake. Both of his arms encircled his chest and upper abdomen. He crouched down, as if to hide, and tucked in his head. I heard something like mumbling but it was too quiet to pick up.

I hid behind a rock outcropping to my right. I may be a strong dragon, but I knew that I could not take down an ocean dragon of that size. All I could do was wait.

My eyes widened as I watched the brute tear at the ribcage, breaking the bones, and further cornering the shaking boy. Then, instead of flames, he shot four barbed, harpoon-like stings that lodged themselves in the bone and dripped poison. The purple substance dripped down on the quaking boy, singeing his clothes.

The boy stood up, tears streaked down his face, mouth moving at the speed of light. A spell perhaps?

The brute seemed to have the same thought as he let out a shriek and puffed up his neck to shoot again.

Then the boy yelled something, it was weak but audible. An apology. To whom, I will never know.

There was a shot, something sung through the air, and a large harpoon embedded itself in the boy's skull.

It was over.

Instant but still painful to watch. The boy was pinned against the rib, harpoon sliced through his forehead vertically. His arms lay protectively over his stomach. It was only now, that he was laying flat that I noticed the bump there. I'd check it out when the brute left.

Seeing as the job was done, the monstrosity that killed the innocent boy flew off, leaving a trail of blood and the awful smell of sulfur in his wake.

As soon as the beast was gone from view, I creeped to the edge of the graveyard. The small boy's body was thin and mutalated, covered in scars and burns and bite wounds. His skull was split open and the blood turned pearly white bones crimson.

I heard a small whining, and my attention whipped to the small bump on the boy's belly. There was a wiggle and then another whine.

Carefully I lifted the already ripped fabric of the boy's garment. Underneath was a small baby with pale blonde hair and a stone tied around his neck.

Was this what the boy was trying to protect?

I'll never know, but I assume it was.

So, by the awful weapon that killed his brother, I named the baby...

Sting.

* * *

Sting was silent.

Slowly, his hand crept up to the earring in his left ear.

"I-" his voice cracked and cut off "I had a brother?"

The question was almost timid, like he was afraid of the answer. Afraid to know that he had something just to lose it again.

"Yes, and even from the little I saw of him, I could tell that he was a courageous, caring fellow," Weisslogia replied, as if to assure the shaking boy on the ground before him.

Rogue leaned his head on Sting's shoulder.

"I guess I know where you get it from now," the black haired boy told him softly, with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess..." Sting's voice trailed off again. He stared blankly into the distance, wondering about what it would be like to have a brother.

"Father?" Phillatsu asked, looking up at Igneel "How did you find Natsu and I?"

"Um, well," Igneel glanced around at the other dragons, who shook their heads slightly or gave him an evil eye "You have to figure that out for yourselves, I mean, it's no fun if someone just gives you the answer, you gotta search for the answers. Half the fun is in the hunt, you know!"

"Wow!" Both twins exclaimed with stars in their eyes.

"Erhm," Grandine cleared her throut "We should probably all get to bed, it's pretty late."

She nodded her head to where Wendy and Cole slept soundly on top of one another and where Eogue had fallen asleep on Sting's shoulder.

"Yes, that's probably best!" Kismetscion agreed with a chuckle.

"This has been fun!" Igneel concluded before scooping up the tired twins "We'll be off, see you all later!"

And with that he took off into the sky.

* * *

Upon getting home, Igneel deposited the twins into the main sleeping chamber. He had seen some human warriors approaching the haven and wanted to check up on it before settling down to bed.

As he turned to take off through the hole in the top of the volcano, he heard a voice behind him.

"Where are you going, Father?" Phillatsu asked, wiping her eyes "Aren't you tired?"

"Yes, very, but I have one last thing to do before I settle down for the night," came the large dragon's reply.

"Ok, then, don't stay up too late," she lay back down "I'll see you when you get back."

Those would sadly be her last words to the towering figure above her.


End file.
